First Fall Art Activity - Handprint Trees

Fall may have arrived according to the calendar, but for those of us in FL, we have to be a little more creative to entice Fall, and cooler temperatures, to arrive. Apart from burning a pumpkin spice candle, I thought a preschooler craft might be in order this week. It might convince Fall that we are serious about its arrival!

Last week Charlotte and a friend made handprint trees. They are easy to do if you don't mind getting some paint on your hands and arms.

First, find some brown tempera paint. Wait, you don't have brown tempera paint. That's ok. I didn't either. Until Google came to the rescue. And I learned that you can combine the three primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) to make brown. Sounds great. But then, I didn't have any yellow tempera paint. What's a anxious crafter to do? 

I improvised. 

Orange is made of yellow and red, so combined with blue, I had brown! (This also works with purple and yellow or green and red.)

Once you've secured the brown paint, slather it on the hands and forearm and make a print. This is now the trunk and branches of our tree.

Once it is dry, let your preschooler make fingerprint leaves with red, orange, and yellow paint. You can use green, but I only recommend a few green prints at the end. We are after all, trying to convince Fall to arrive.

Keep a wet washcloth handy so the artist can clean off their finger in between colors.

And once it is all dry, you have a beautiful masterpiece to hang up and let Fall know you are ready to play in the leaves!

What creative activity are you doing to welcome Fall?